The New Frontier
by shane1594
Summary: Ash, sick of travelling, decides to settle down and accepts Scott's offer. Rating may change.
1. Bound For The New Frontier

Ash had recently competed in the Unova League, eventually defeated by the guy that went on to emerge victorious in the semi-final. Right now he was watching the waves lap against the hull of the ship that was carrying him back to Pallet Town in the Kanto Region. He sighed morosely as he thought, '_I'm eighteen now and what have I done. I finished in the top sixteen in the Indigo League, eighth in both Johto's Silver Conference and Hoenn's Evergrande Conference and fourth in both the Lilly of the Valley Conference and also the Unova League Tournament. I've done so much, yet accomplished so little...' _he sighed '..._well, I'm really sick of travelling around, maybe I should just settle down and try to get some training for a real job..._' he sighed again '..._so much for being a Pokémon Master...what a joke. Wait a sec...real job...Pokémon Master...Master Real...no no...Pokémon Job...Wait! That's it! Maybe I can call Scott, see if that job of Frontier Brain is still open._'

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Two weeks later, back in Pallet Town's Port, Ash disembarked from the ship, to be met by none other than Scott himself. Ash, seeing Scott, took a step back in shock and asked, "Scott? What're you doing here?"

"Ash! Well well, what d'you know, I must admit that I didn't expect to see you here."

"You didn't?"

"No, right now I'm waiting for the trainers from the Unova Region that want to take on the Kanto Battle Frontier, I suppose I've got you to thank for that."

"Well, I don't know about that," Ash said, scratching the back of his head.

"So, you given any more thought to my offer?"

"Yeah, I was actually going to give you a call when I got home, but since you're here..."

"Really? That's great news, you see recently there've been some problems with getting advertising rights overseas, with someone like you as a Frontier Brain we shouldn't have any problems."

"Advertising rights?"

"Yeah, in addition to trainers from the Kanto Region the Battle Frontier seeks to increase the number of trainers from other regions to come here, not only does it help the economy of the towns that have a Battle Facility, but it also gives the Frontier Brains variation in their battles."

"I see," Ash said, understanding the desire for variation in battles. "So, when do I start?"

"Whoa whoa, now just hold on a tic, you can't just go straight from being a normal trainer to being a Frontier Brain, there's more to running a Battle Facility than just battling challengers. Other than the day to day work of running the gym there're other things that the Frontier Brain needs to be able to do. There's also a difference in the mindset between a Challenger and a Frontier Brain, just as the is with a Gym Leader. You've probably noticed this over the years, but Gym Leaders use their skills to test the challengers own. As a rule of thumb Frontier Brains use their to push the challenger into a corner and see if they can adapt and change to suit their needs, granted each Facility also adds their own twist to the theme, but you get the point, right?"

"Yeah, I guess I can understand that," Ash said, thinking back over all the battles that he had fought against various opponents, "although I've never really thought about it before, all of my battles in the Pokémon League Tournaments were more desperate than my battles against the Gym Leaders."

"And that's the difference between a challenger and a Frontier Brain, the Frontier Brain needs to stay cool and collected to push their challenger to the limit, and then beyond, challengers push themselves to their limit."

"Okay, that'll take some time getting used to."

"I know, that's why, when we get a new Frontier Brain, we enter them into a sort of internship with one of the current ones."

"Okay, so who am I going to take mine with?"

"Gimme a few days to think on it and I'll get back to you, how's that?"

"Yeah, sounds good. I'll be staying at my house for that time. You can find me either there or at Professor Oak's Laboratory."

"Yeah, sure thing Ash," Scott said as he walked off, seeing the new contenders of the Kanto Battle Frontier.

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One hour and thirty minutes later Ash knocked on his home's door. Soon enough Delia opened it and, seeing Ash, half-stated, half-asked, "Ash?"

"Ye-ah," Ash half-sarcastically replied.

"But...weren't you getting home tomorrow?"

"Yeah, but due to a pod of Wailord giving the ship a ride the ship got in early."

"I see...Ah! Oh no! I was going to start cooking all your favourite meals this afternoon!"

Ash sighed and said, "Never mind that, I won't be going out on another journey for quite some time."

"You're not?"

"Yeah, if you let me in I'll tell you all about it."

Delia exclaimed, "Ah! Of course, come on in!" as she opened the door, moving out of the doorway.

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That night Scott was pouring over past records and video's of matches that had taken place in the Battle Frontier, all of which involved Ash. He watched them in order of the battles that were fought(1). When he got to the end of the video's he poured over the reports handed in by the Frontier Brains and decided on who Ash would be undertaking his internship with.

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Meanwhile Ash had spent the rest of the day reminiscing with his Pokémon on his past journeys and realising that, in all his time travelling, it was only the second(2) time that he had actually kept all of the Pokémon that he caught in that region. Ash also used the time to plan on what Pokémon he would take with him when he left to undertake his apprenticeship. In the end he decided on Gabite, Pikachu, Swellow and Leavanny, leaving two spots free.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx The next day Scott was at the Battle Factory, watching a battle being waged against Noland. Scott was very unimpressed by the trainer's calibre. He sighed in disappointment as he thought '_The competition's quality has really dropped lately. Well, at least I can fill the other Frontier Brains about what's going on from here.'_

Noland said, "Aggron, Flash Cannon!" his Aggron fired a silver beam at the opponents Rhydon. When the Rhydon fainted Noland sighed in disappointment at the battle that had just been fought. "Now see here, _kid_, if you want to seriously challenge the Battle Frontier you _need_ stronger Pokémon. A Pokémon like your Rhydon, that's just evolved, is no match against any of the Frontier Brains' Pokémon that we've had for years. Come back when you have more experience." The kid ran away wailing, causing both Noland and Scott to sigh in irritation. Noland looked at Scott and demanded, "What were you thinking Scott, sending a brat like that here? The last true challenger we had was that Ash Ketchum almost three years ago."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that, but believe me, he was the best of a bad bunch."

Noland sighed and said, "Well at least tell me that you have something else to do here."

"I do."

"Oh thank god," Noland said in relief.

"I need to set up a vid-conference with the other Frontier Brains."

"A vid-conference? It's been a while since you've had us all online at once. What's going on?"

"A game changer."

"A game changer?"

"Yeah, it's gonna be great."

"What is it?"

"You'll just have to wait and see." Noland growled in irritation as he led Scott to the vid-conference room.

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20 minutes later Scott was in a room with Noland and Six real-time images of the other Frontier Brains, he said, "Alright, first up, how is everyone going?"

"I'm bored out of my mind," Lucy said, no-one is coming to battle me anymore, being seconded by all of the other Frontier Brains.

"Yes well, hopefully I've come up with a way to change all that."

"Oh? How's that?" Brandon asked.

Scott smiled and said, "How many of you remember Ash Ketchum?" All of the Frontier Brains informed Scott of their remembrance of Ash. "Well, recently he contacted me about my offer to become one of the Frontier Brains."

"Did he finally accept?" Brandon asked.

"Yes."

"I see. You've outdone yourself this time my friend," Tucker said, "Young Ketchum can put on a real show when he wants to."

"Yes, well, like you guys he needs to undertake a period of training before being officially announced."

"So, who is he taking it with?"

"I tossed many idea's around, Tucker, you were my first choice, but as you said, 'Ash can put on a show', that means there's nothing that he can really learn from you."

"This is true."

"Likewise with Annabel, Greta, and Spenser; Ash and Brandon are too dissimilar for it to be worth it to apprentice Ash to him either, Noland falls into the same category as well."

"So, you're apprenticing him to me then?" Lucy asked.

"Yes. Ash's battle style is based more around defence than attack. I think that it would be good for Ash to be a bit more versatile in his battling before letting him become a frontier brain. I'll leave it up to you to decide the method."

"Very well," Lucy said, closing her eyes as she bowed her head.

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Author's Notes

(1) Noland, Greta, Tucker, Lucy, Spenser, Annabel, Brandon  
>(2) I count Haunter as being one of Ash's Pokémon<p> 


	2. Pidgeot's Return

The next day Scott rang the Ketchum residence and the phone was answered by Ash saying, "Hello, Ketchum residence."

"Yeah, I know," Scott said on the other end of the line.

"Oh! Scott! So, have you decided on who's going to be training me?"

"Yeah, None other than the Pike Queen herself."

"So, Lucy huh?"

"Yeah, I thought that you could learn the most from her than any of the others."

"Alright, so when do I start?"

"As soon as you can get to Saffron City. Lucy should meet you at the train statio..."

Just then Ash's attention was stolen by loud, cries from outside his house. Ash said, "Uh, if you don't mind I think that I should probably check what that was."

"Yeah, go right ahead," Scott said, understanding that dealing with a wild Pokémon in your yard was far more important than a phone call.

"Thanks," Ash said, before putting the phone, earpiece down, on the dining table and rushing outside. When he was there he was stunned to see not one, but two Pidgeot, one with being the colour of normal Pidgeot, the other not. It was a shiny Pokémon. Ash said, "Well, hi there." The Pidgeot let out a caw as a reply. "So would you mind telling me exactly what you two are here for?" The normal one let out a series of caws, prompting Ash to squint and ask, "Pidgeot? Are you my..." the normal coloured Pidgeot nodded, letting out another caw. "So, are you here to come with me again?" Pidgeot shook its head in the negative. The other, shiny, one, let out a series of caws, prompting Ash to say, "So, you're saying that you're my Pidgeot's daughter and you want to come with me as your father did?" the shiny Pidgeot nodded. "Well, sure, I'll gladly bring you with me...as a matter of fact you've come at the perfect time." Both Pidgeot turned their heads in confusion. "I just accepted an offer to become a Frontier Brain and need to get to Saffron City," Ash then rushed indoors to retrieve a Pokéball for Pidgeot, as well as tell Scott that he would be there sooner than expected and not to bother Lucy about picking him up from the train station.

While her prospective trainer was indoors the shiny Pidgeot turned to her father and let out some caws, meaning, 'are yousure about this father?' Pidgeot nodded in affirmation.

When Ash re-emerged from his house he was wearing the belt that bore his Pokéballs, black jeans, a black shirt and a royal blue, high-collared cloak with detachable sleeves. He then proceeded to capture the shiny Pidgeot in a Pokéball then released her once again. Ash turned to his previous Pidgeot and said, "Alright, I guess that I'll be seeing you later Pidgeot." Pidgeot let out a caw, meaning, 'You better,' before letting out another, bidding farewell to his daughter. The shiny Pidgeot bade her father farewell before Ash got on her back and then they took off for Saffron City.

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Two hours of flight time later Ash and Pidgeot drew in sight of Saffron City. Ash said, "You see that city over there Pidgeot?" Pidgeot answered back in a loud caw. "Well that's where we need to be, so if you can fly just a bit faster you can let me off and have a good rest." Pidgeot eagerly picked up speed as the trip, with her new trainer as added weight, had taken more out of her than she was used to. Two minutes later Pidgeot set Ash down next to the Regional Headquarters of Silph Co. Ash returned Pidgeot to her Pokéball and said to himself, "Right, now where should I go first...hmm..." Ash decided that he should probably just head straight to the Battle Pike, so he did.


	3. The Battle Pike

Twenty minutes later Ash reached the Battle Pike. He raised his fist to knock on the door, but before he could the door opened to reveal Barbara, who said, "Ash! You got here quick."

"Yeah well I guess all I can say is that I got lucky."

"Yeah, well Lucy ducked out to get some lunch about twenty minutes ago, so she should be back soon. We had a challenger before so she missed having it with the rest of us. But you can wait inside anyway," Barbara said as she moved out of the doorway, allowing Ash to enter.

Ash said, "Alright then," letting Barbara lead him through the Battle Pike's hallways.

When they were passing the door to the battlefield Barbara asked, "Hey Ash, do you want to have a Pokémon battle while we're waiting?"

"A battle? Yeah sure, how's three-on-three with no substitutions?"

"Yeah sure, sounds good," Barbara said, leading them through a door that led to a standard battlefield. Barbara went to the trainer box on the left while Ash headed to the one on the right. "So, do you want to send out your Pokémon first, or me, mine?"

"How about the same time?"

"Okay sure, that sounds good."

The two trainers each retrieved a Pokéball at the same time, before simultaneously saying, "I choose you Seviper/Gabite!"

"Ohh, so that Gible that I saw you using in the Sinnoh league evolved did it?" Barbara asked.

"Yeah, and you seem to have started copying Lucy, at least in the Pokémon you catch."

"What was that! How dare you speak like that about Queen Lucy."

"Geez, still got that perfect sister fetish of yours huh?"

"sis...ter...fet...ish..." Barbara growled in anger before angrily saying, "I was thinking of letting you go first, but no longer, Seviper, use Night Slash."

Seviper slithered its way rapidly towards Gabite with a glowing purple tail, but, when it was about halfway to Gabite Ash said, "Gabite, use Dual Chop." Gabite waited until Seviper had actually started to attack, before hitting Seviper's glowing tail with one of the glowing fins on his arms and brought the other one down on Seviper's head, knocking it into the ground, whereupon Ash said, "Alright Gabite, now use Flamethrower." Gabite launched a powerful stream of flames at Seviper from close range. When Gabite stopped its attack Seviper was unconscious. Ash called, "Seviper is no longer able to battle."

Barbara growled at what had happened and returned her Seviper to its Pokéball. When her Fang Snake Pokémon was back in its Pokéball she held it to her face and, sorrowfully, said, "I'm sorry Seviper, I lost it and caused you pain. But I won't let it go to waste." Barbara called out, "Come on out, Arbok," as she threw a Pokéball towards Ash, who had by now recalled his Gabite after congratulating it on a great battle. Ash looked at the Mouse Pokémon on his shoulder and said, "Well buddy, looks like you're up next." Pikachu jumped down onto the battlefield, but when Barbara told her Arbok to use earthquake, Pikachu fell to the ground unconscious.

Ash commented, "Well, that sucked," as he left his trainers box to retrieve Pikachu from the field. When he had done so he laid Pikachu out on the ground behind him; Ash said, "Alright, since you beat Pikachu I'm going first this time."

"Sure thing," Barbara called as she returned her Arbok to its Pokéball.

Ash thought, '_Alright, so far she's sent two poison type Pokémon against me, so that means that she's probably going to send another one out...wait...this is the Battle Pike, it isn't a poison type facility, merely one that tends to use Pokémon with a serpentine body rather than other, more traditional body types. But that might just be Pike Queen Lucy. But strictly speaking there're only two poison Pokémon that have a chance of belonging in this facility, which means that the next one won't be a poison type. Any other likely candidates are water type_s, which means...' Ash then drew a Pokéball from his belt and announced, "I choose you, Leavanny!"

Barbara shrieked "Leavanny!" before hurriedly thinking, '_Oh God oh God...what am I gonna do? All of my remaining Pokémon are grass and electric types! Oh no, I've got no chance no, no, none at all! Wait! What is it that Lucy always telling me...? Oh right,...' _Barbara saw a translucent image of Pike Queen Lucy appear before her mouthing words at her. '_...Whenever you come across a situation that originally seems hopeless you need to calm down and think things through..._' she took a deep breath, _'...Okay, now, what do I know about Leavanny?...It's a Pokémon that relies mainly on its speed and physical attacks to battle, which, if I remember correctly, perfectly suits Ash's battle style. But by the same token it is really weak against special type attacks...which doesn't really do me much good in this situation. I could try battling with Whiscash...it has some ice type attacks and has a great special attack, but it's too slow, and with Leavanny's speed it'd be unable to keep up. Add that to it's double type bonus, Whiscash would be out for the count before I could even tell it to use an attack. Gorebyss is completely out of the question, as is Ampharos. That leaves only one option..._' Barbara picked a Pokéball from her belt and threw it towards Ash, saying, "Electrode, I choose you!"

Ash thought, '_So, Electrode is it? Good choice._' Ash then said, "Since you just defeated my Pokémon I'll go first as well."

Barbara called, "Fine by me Ash."

"Alright then, Leavanny, use Energy Ball."

Leavanny opened its mouth and its antennae started to glow light green. They then were surrounded by light green sparkles. A light green orb of energy then formed in front of its mouth and then flew at Barbara's Electrode.

Barbara said, "Alright electrode, dodge it." Electrode rolled to its right, dodging the ball of energy. "Now get close to it and use Explosion!"

Ash yelled, "Leavanny, move about and don't stop." Unfortunately Barbara's Electrode was faster than Ash had been counting on and easily kept up with Leavanny. Soon enough it exploded right next to Leavanny, knocking them both out. Ash sighed as he returned Leavanny to its Pokéball. Looking at the Pokéball he whispered, "That was great Leavanny, Electrode was just a bit faster than you, that's all." Then, louder, he said, "That was a good battle Barbara...and sorry about saying that you have a perfect sister complex before."

Just then, from the side, a voice saying, "There's no need for you to apologise for saying something like that...it is true after all."

Ash and Barbara looked to see who it was and simultaneously said, "Lucy!"

Lucy smiled and said, "Scott told me that you'd be coming by, but I must admit that I didn't expect to see you here quite so soon."

"Yeah well, on my way to Pallet Town Train Station I ran into an old friend of mine, a Pidgeot from my first journey around the Kanto Region, and he told me that his daughter was interested in coming with me. So I flew over on her."

"I see...hmm...you just had a three on three Pokémon battle did you not?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, you see, Scott has instructed me to increase your versatility in battle."

"My versatility? I thought that I was pretty versatile as it is."

"Yes, but when Scott was deciding who you were to be apprenticed to he watched your battles against us and found that you could be considered a counter-strategist."

Ash asked, "A counter-strategist?"

"Yes. You tend to let your opponents reveal their strategies and then defeat those strategies." Ash thought over all his battles against Gym Leaders and in Pokémon League Competitions and discovered that there was an element of truth in what Lucy was saying. "The thing about counter-strategists is that they tend to have a more defensive battle style, which allows their opponents to gain the upper hand rather easily, making it harder on them to gain the advantage and turn the flow of the battle towards them, especially if their opponent can get a read on them early on in the battle."

Ash thought over all his battles against Paul and Gary and found that everything Lucy was saying was right on the mark. He then said, "Yeah, I can see what you're saying."

"Alright then. Now since counter strategists fight defensively they can't really push their opponent to their limit, until the opponent has already shown everything he has. That defeats the purpose of a trainer's competing in the Battle Frontier. If you can remember our battle I utilise a strictly offensive battle style. That is why Scott sent you to me."


	4. The New Team

Ash, after hearing Lucy summing up how he battled and pointing out what was wrong with it, said, "So, you're saying that the way I battle is wrong somehow?"

"No, not wrong, it's just that you could stand to be a bit more proactive than reactive in your battling. Now, to accomplish this, I'm going to need you to send most of your Pokémon back to Professor Oak's Laboratory."

"Huh?"

"We at the Battle Pike _usually_ only carry two of our Pokémon on us at any one time," Lucy said, glaring at Barbara, "this allows us to bond more with those Pokémon. Of course that means that we rotate our Pokémon on a pretty regular basis. But it'll be a bit different in your case."

"Really? Why's that?"

"Well, since you're not _actually_ a trainer of the Battle Pike, you will be allowed to carry more than two Pokémon during your stay here. However..."

Ash said, "I figured there'd be a 'but' coming in somewhere."

"Yes, well...anyway, for now I'd like you to send all but two of your Pokémon back to stay with Professor Oak while you undertake your internship here."

"All but two huh...alright then, I'll keep Pikachu and..."

"Ah, but you can't keep Pikachu," Lucy said, cutting Ash off before he could state the second Pokémon that he had chosen to keep on him.

Ash exclaimed, "What? Why the hell not?"

"That should be obvious," Lucy said. Seeing a blank expression on Ash's face she explained, "When Scott told me that I would be training you, I went over some of your more recent matches, and I found something. When you come across a tough situation in a Pokémon battle, you tend to do one of two things. Choose a Pokémon that has evolved a lot, or go with Pikachu. Going from what I saw, can I assume that you only brought Pikachu and fully evolved Pokémon with you?"

"Well, no. I brought Gabite with me. I used him in the first match just now."

"Ah, I apologise then. I wasn't here for the first one, only the second two. So, disregarding Gabite, I was correct?"

"Yes."

"Well that's why. I want you to be able to battle your way out of a tough situation without needing to rely on Pikachu."

"Hmm..." Ash said as he looked at Pikachu, "I suppose that I can agree with that. So, do I have to send all of my Pokémon other than Gabite back to Pallet Town?"

"No, you can keep two of your own at the beginning, but other than that you can only use Pokémon that you've acquired during your time here."

"Alright," Ash gulped, unsure of how much of a chance of catching any Pokémon that he'd get.

Lucy, seeing Ash's fear, and having suffered the same fear herself while she was training for her post, smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'll give you plenty of chances to catch Pokémon. When you have a full team of six or more Pokémon I will want you to return the two original Pokémon that you kept here to Professor Oak's Laboratory."

"Alright," said Ash, kind of expecting something like that to have to happen.

"Well, on to our first order of business then, returning your Pokémon to Professor Oak's Laboratory. You'll be glad to know that since we have our own Pokémon Transfer System here at the facility you won't need to be constantly going in to the town to see Nurse Joy at the Pokécentre."

"Really? That's expedient."

"Yes, it's the first thing that I had Scott install when it came to designing my Battle Facility."

"Really?"

Lucy said, "Yeah, I undertook my training with Brandon you see, and with his Flying Pyramid there wasn't really that much time to go to a Pokécentre to get my Pokémon healed. Living out here that problem also exists, so I had him have one installed for me. I had never really considered that it would need to be used like this, but, well, I'm glad that it can," as she led Ash to the Pokémon Transfer System. When they got there Ash placed the Pokéballs containing Pikachu, Swellow and Leavanny in the Pokémon Transfer System and pressed the little red button, sending them to Professor Oak's Laboratory. "Alright, now that that's taken care of, I have something else that I have to tell you."

"Alright?" Ash said, uncertain as to what else the Queen of the Serpentine had to tell him before he began his training.

Lucy, seeing Ash's face laughed, saying, "It's nothing that bad really. As a matter of fact it should help you achieve what you need to during your time here. You see, whenever a new trainer comes to work as a trainer at the Battle Pike we give them two Pokémon."

"You _give_ them to them?"

"Yes. We raise them ourselves from eggs that have hatched from our own Pokémon for that very purpose."

"Hmm...I'm not sure that I like the sound of that, but alright. I assume that that means that you are going to give _me_ two as well then?"

"Indeed."

"Do you select the two, or do I have any say in it?"

"No, we select them and the two that I have in mind for you suit the purpose exactly."

"Alright, so what are they?"

Lucy said, "Milotic and Tynamo."

"Milotic and Tynamo?" Ash asked.

"Yes, are there any problems with that?"

"No no, I just don't know how giving me a Pokémon like Tynamo will assist me in improving my battle style, especially when you give me a Pokémon like Milotic alongside it."

"Ah, I see...you are asking me such a question because you are suffering a misconception."

Ash inquired, "A misconception?"

"Yes. You see the any Milotic we give to a trainer is on a very low level. You see we raise the beauty STAT of the Feebas that they evolve from without giving it any battle training. I have one of my assistants go to Lavender City to have all if forget of its attacks. When we bring it back here we then teach it Brine and Water Pulse."

"Ah, I see. So you do this to give both the trainer and the Pokémon time to evolve together, even if the Pokémon doesn't _actually_ evolve under the trainers care."

"Indeed. It also serves to assist acclimate the trainers with the way things work around here."

"I see. It seems that there is far more to running a Battle Facility than I had previously believed."

Lucy smiled before saying, "Indeed there is. But we will have plenty of time to teach you those things before you leave."

"Teach me well."

"Of course, here are the Pokéballs with your two Pokémon. I suggest that you use the rest of today to get to know them. Your training starts tomorrow." Ash thanked Lucy before heading to the training field with a pool in it.


	5. The Fuchsia City Tunnel pt 1

When Ash had taken ownership of his new Pokémon he changed into his boardies and headed to the pool that Lucy had told him about. When he got there he released both Milotic in the pool and Tynamo to the side. He looked them over and said, "Hi guys, from today you and I are going to be partners." Milotic spat a stream of water at Ash's head. He said, "Uhh...let me guess, you're a girl, right?" Milotic let out a sound of dignified annoyance at his mistake, mixed in with forgiveness. "Okay, sorry then. I find it kind of hard to tell the difference in gender between some Pokémon. Hey wait! Why are your ears blue? For that matter, your tail is yellow too...hey...you're a shiny Milotic, aren't you?"

Milotic let out a sound as if asking, 'And you're only just realising this now?'

Ash shrugged. "Anyway, I figured that before we even think of battling together it would be better for us to get to know each other first. So, what do you say?" Milotic cocked her head, Tynamo mirroring her action with its body. "Come on, lets go for a swim," Ash said, diving in the pool with Milotic. Tynamo stayed by the side of the pool, not wanting to inadvertently shock his new trainer, and his other new Pokémon, as he knew that he was rather...excitable when happy, which he was at finally getting a trainer of his own, having seen his brothers and sisters being trained by other members of the facility. They spent the next four hours playing around in and around the pool along with Pidgeot and Gabite.

XXXXX

The next day Ash was woken up by a bucket of very cold water being poured over his head. He shot up out of bed and, seeing Barbara, narrowed his eyes and said in a tone that sent chills down Barbara's spine, "_Never_ do that again."

Barbara said, "U...uhh...okay, sure..." unsure how to respond to Ash's demeanour when he had always been friendly whenever she had seen him before. She thought, '_He must _really_ not be a morning person._' "Well, anyway," Barbara said, her tone back to its chipper self, "_you_ have work to do."

"Work?" Ash asked, only now questioning why Barbara would be waking him up while it was still dark.

"Ye-ah. You're here to learn how to run a Battle Facility, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, the first thing you need to do is go out and get the food for the Pokémon."

"At..." Ash said as he looked at the clock in his room. "...Five AM? Are you jerking me around or are you actually...?" he caught the look in her eyes and continued. "...You're actually serious, aren't you?"

Barbara raised her eyebrow, as if to say, 'Are you seriously asking me that?'

Ash sighed and said, "Why isn't there enough here already?"

"Acquiring Pokémon food for the Facility for the week is done this morning."

Ash tiredly sighed and said, "Alright, fine. Where?"

"The docks. Pier 29. Later," Barbara said in a sing-song voice, swinging out of Ash's room.

After Barbara was gone Ash thought, '_If she's like that every day, then I'm going to have to do something about it._' He sighed and said, "Ahh-ah...It can wait. For now, it looks like I have a job to do."

Ash had a relatively light breakfast of four pieces of toast, three eggs and five sausages. He then went outside and stretched. He said to himself, "I'm really doing it, aren't I Pikach...oh, right. _He's_ not here." Ash sighed and thought 'I guess I really must have relied on Pikachu a little too much if I'm trying to talk to him even though I should know that he's no longer with me...Well, at least I've still got Gabite.' Ash then drew his four Pokéballs that contained Pokémon from his belt. He said, "Well guys, I think that we're gonna have a blast battling together." He then walked away from the Battle Pike, headed towards Saffron City Markets to buy food for the Water type Pokémon that Lucy had requested of him late the previous night.

On his way there, he saw a head of green hair tied up into a ponytail that belonged with a voice that he vaguely recognised. He thought, '_Ah well, I'm probably imagining it anyway_,' and continued on to the Market. When he got there, he immediately went to look for a map of the area. Not finding one, he started walking through the streets that the multiple stores formed, looking for the stall that sold food for marine Pokémon.

On his way through the market he saw many different stalls, some of which sold Pokémon food for Pokémon of different types, others that sold decorations and other Pokémon accessories. One of which sold various kinds of Pokéballs for capturing different Pokémon. Ash decided that it was high time that he stopped carrying around only the six standard Pokéballs that he had on him. He bought a few of the Pokéballs and place them in the empty Pokéball slots on the 12-slot belt that he was given at the Battle Pike as part of his traineeship and went on his way.

10 minutes later he came across the stall that sold the food that he had been instructed to buy and bought 10 crates of it, each containing 6 cans of Pokémon food. The stall owner asked, "Do you want me to have some of my workers take it to the Battle Pike for you?"

"No no," Ash replied, "It's fine, Pidgeot will fly it over much quicker than it would otherwise take, plus, your workers will actually be doing something productive instead."

"Yeah well, I wish that that were the case, but recently the most they've been able to do is to gabble on and on about this new star that's performing alongside her Pokémon here. As a matter of fact, you probably passed her show on the way over here."

"Really?" Ash asked, thinking on his journey to the stall. "Sorry, I can't remember seeing a show on the way."

"Really? Well, I guess that it is the start of the day so there are probably not enough customers for it to be worth it. She might be performing a bit later if you want to stick around and see it."

"Yeah, I reckon I'll give that a shot. I just hope that the Pike Queen understands."

"Lucy might be a bit of a hardass, but she really does have a soft side for those that know her."

"Really? It sounds to me like you know her quite well."

"Yeah, she grew up in the same street as I lived in, still do."

"'S'at so?"

"Yeah, well, best get going if you want to catch that show."

"Right," Ash said, calling forth Pidgeot from its Pokéball and, giving it a rope with the crates on a pallet, said, "Okay Pidgeot, I want you to be really careful when you deliver this to the Battle Pike."

Pidgeot acknowledged the order and flew off, headed to the Battle Pike while Ash received instructions on where the performance was being held. After the stall owner had finished telling Ash where the performance was being held he asked, "If you see any of my workers there can you tell 'em that if they don't get back here pronto that they'll be out of a job?"

"Yeah, sure thing. How will I identify them?"

"That's easy, they're all wearing blue 'n' black v-necks like mine."

"Alright, see ya later," Ash said, bidding the stall owner farewell, knowing that he'd be the one going out to get the food for the Pokémon for the foreseeable future.

On his way back Ash heard a crotchety voice saying, "And I'll give the person who gets rid of those darned fighting types for me P1000000!"

Ash thought, '_That kind of sounds like…actually…who _does _that sound like? I'm sure that I've heard that voice before, but…_' then he had a flashback of when an old woman tried to get him, along with Brock and Misty, to exterminate a school of Tentacool and Tentacruel so that she could build some hotel. Ash walked over to the voice's source and pushed his way through the crowd. When he saw that the woman had reddish hair tied in two braids that stood out from her head, he said, "You know, you look a lot like these two other old bats that wanted to play dirty to get what they wanted."

The woman looked down her nose as the young whippersnapper, as she was thinking of him, and said, "And who do you think that you are, you young whippersnapper?"

"Whipper…? Sorry lady, I don't understand old-person speech."

"Old…?!" the lady screeched, "I'm not old! I'll have you know that I'm just beginning to enter the prime of my life!"

"Yeah, and I'm a Primeape's uncle," Ash sarcastically said.

"Why you…!" the woman growled. "Who are you anyway?"

"Ash Ketchum," Ash said. "Maybe you've heard of me?"

"Ash…ketchup…hmm…nope, sorry. I don't pay attention to two-bit trainers."

"Two-bit…" Ash sighed and said, "You know what? I'm not interested," and shrugged, saying, "though I would suggest that you abandon whatever nuts idea that's going through your head that's causing you to want to destroy a Pokémon's habitat."

"I'm building a tunnel that leads from here in Fuchsia City over to Lavender Town so that we don't need to bother going all the way via Celadon City or the Silence Bridge, which is notoriously for disappearing trainers."

Ash said, "Are you sure that you don't have anything to do with that?"

"Urk!" the woman said, tugging on her collar, thinking, '_How could that brat know that? Eh, if he's run across my cousin's it would go a long way to explaining it._' "Now why would I have anything to do with that?"

"Well, I'm just guessing here, but it would go a long way to convincing the bigwigs of this city to go along with your plan to build this tunnel, wouldn't it?" as Ash was talking the people that had been listening to the woman started to walk away as his words _did_ make sense. "In any case, you know my name, would you mind telling me yours?"

"My name is Loustina. What's it to you?"

" Loustina is it? I could be imagining things here, but you wouldn't be related to…what were their names again? Brutina and Nastella?" purposefully bungling their names.

"It's Brutella and Nastina! And they're my cousins. _Why_?"

Ash, hearing of the woman's relation to the two nutcases that he had met years earlier, thought, '_I'd better look into this,_' and said, "Oh, just wondering," Ash said, walking off to investigate. As he left he heard a couple of voices agreeing to Loustina's request. He thought, '_Those fools!_' as he headed to the Council Offices to find out exactly where Loustina's Tunnel would be built.


End file.
